I have a 13" white Macbook, I bought it in late 2006. I made the mistake of leaving it plugged in almost always for the first 2 years, and I think I've permanently damaged the battery from that. The battery will usually last about 2 hours once disconnected from the power source. I did take it to the Apple store, and they did a diagnostic test and the battery appeared to be functioning normally.
About a month ago, I relocated to France and I'll be here for a year. I've heard horror stories of other people having difficulties with their laptops once abroad, specifically having their "hard drive fried" from the difference in voltage (obviously they used the necessary converters but still, their laptops stopped working after a couple of months).
I'm desperate to avoid this from happening, because there's no way I can afford to replace my Macbook right now. Lately, my computer will run perfectly fine until the red battery indicator turns on. Then, I will receive a warning to plug my computer in. Shortly thereafter, sometimes literally seconds later, the computer shuts itself off. Sometimes I don't even get a warning - it will just shut itself off when the battery begins to run low. I know this is really bad for the hard drive, so I'm curious if anyone knows why this is happening? What can I do to prevent this from happening? Aside from the obvious, which is plugging it in once the battery looks low.
Furthermore, one night the battery was about 3/4 charged and I left the computer "awake" figuring that it would go to sleep in 5 minutes and then in the morning I could just press any key and it would "wake up". The next morning, the computer was off. At some point then, it must have run out of battery power and turned itself off?? This doesn't make sense though, because if it was hibernating then it should have had enough power to last through 7 hours.
Has anyone had similar experiences with their Macbooks abroad? Any advice?
Thanks so much!
About a month ago, I relocated to France and I'll be here for a year. I've heard horror stories of other people having difficulties with their laptops once abroad, specifically having their "hard drive fried" from the difference in voltage (obviously they used the necessary converters but still, their laptops stopped working after a couple of months).
I'm desperate to avoid this from happening, because there's no way I can afford to replace my Macbook right now. Lately, my computer will run perfectly fine until the red battery indicator turns on. Then, I will receive a warning to plug my computer in. Shortly thereafter, sometimes literally seconds later, the computer shuts itself off. Sometimes I don't even get a warning - it will just shut itself off when the battery begins to run low. I know this is really bad for the hard drive, so I'm curious if anyone knows why this is happening? What can I do to prevent this from happening? Aside from the obvious, which is plugging it in once the battery looks low.
Furthermore, one night the battery was about 3/4 charged and I left the computer "awake" figuring that it would go to sleep in 5 minutes and then in the morning I could just press any key and it would "wake up". The next morning, the computer was off. At some point then, it must have run out of battery power and turned itself off?? This doesn't make sense though, because if it was hibernating then it should have had enough power to last through 7 hours.
Has anyone had similar experiences with their Macbooks abroad? Any advice?
Thanks so much!